To Choose Between Realities
by Gandalf3213
Summary: Odd has strange dreams. He gets scared of new people, afraid to get back to Lyoko. When he does, he get kidnapped by Xana and held for a ransom. His friends need to find a way to help him before the clock geos down to zero.
1. Dreaming

**I don't own it. Just so you know.**

Ulrich was worried.

He was worried about his math grade, which wasn't so hot. He was worried about how he would ask Yumi to the dance. He was worried about skipping yet another science class because of a Xana attack.

But most of all, he was worried about Odd.

Odd had always been different. His name fit him so well. He just didn't seem to care about what other people thought, which was why everybody was naturally attracted to him. And of their little group, Odd was definitely the one who was most comfortable around other people, or at least he had been.

Lately, Ulrich had been woken in the middle of the night. He never knew exactly what woke him, except that he always had a feeling. Like if he didn't wake up right then, something terrible would happen.

So he'd wake up, and look at the small window that was built into the wall. And there'd be Odd. He wouldn't be moving, or making any noise. Just sitting there, shaking. Like he was afraid to move. Afraid to breathe.

And Ulrich would go to him, touch him on the back of the neck. Odd would whip around so fast that Ulrich could barely see it. He'd be afraid of Ulrich at first, cowering, turning into a ball. Ulrich would sit down next to him, stroke his thatch of blond hair, telling him everything would be alright.

Night after night this would happen. Odd was getting further away from being "all-right". It was at these times that Ulrich would remember how young Odd was. Just barely thirteen, while he and Jeremy were fourteen and Yumi was fifteen. Aelita had no age.

Ulrich hadn't told these midnight awakenings to anyone. He hoped they would just go away, like the stages a five year old passes through.

Then they got worse.

Odd started waking up screaming. Not a human scream, more like the yowl of a cat, mixed with hissing. When this happened, he didn't recognize Ulrich when he tried to comfort him.

"Get away from me!" Odd's eyes were glazed over, like someone in a fever. "No! Please don't!"

Ulrich pulled Odd closer, ignoring the smaller boy's attempts to get away. Eventually he stopped struggling, let his body hang limp in Ulrich's arms.

He started to cry.

Ulrich didn't know what to do, what to say. He held the boy close to him, waiting for the sleep to come. For another nightmare to take him.

And he'd be there, to wake him up. To tell him it was another bad dream.

**Slow begining. It'll get faster. Just review.**


	2. Running

**I own nothing**

Odd was tired. His dreams were getting weirder, more life-like. He was afraid of sleeping now.

The dreams...

Every night Odd dreamed of getting kidnapped. By Xana, on Lyoko. Not really all that weird or even scary. While Xana was coming after him, though, Ulrich and Yumi and Aelita were just standing there, doing _nothing_. They didn't even try to help.

Odd loved his friends. He'd trust them with his life, and often did. But now...sometimes he thought he was just being put up with because they thought it was funny to jerk him around. Sometimes he'd walk into a room and everybody'd stop and stare at him.

The only one he could really count on was Ulrich.

Ulrich seemed to know exactly what was happening. Odd had never mentioned his dreams to the others, yet sometimes at night, when he felt that he would just fall apart if someone didn't come to him right then and tell him it was okay, Ulrich would be there. He'd hold Odd, hug him like a brother.

And then they'd both go to sleep, and the nightmares would be back. Only not as bad,

because he was with Ulrich.

Odd had been so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed Yumi sit down at the table. He jumped a foot in the air when she started talking.

"Another day, Odd. Wake up and face it, 'cause it's another Xana attack." Yumi was feeling great, maybe it was because she had spent the best part of the previous night talking to Ulrich. Just talking, and not even about anything special. But it had been...nice.

Odd nodded and got up from the table, taking an apple off his plate before dumping the tray into the garbage. "Everybody know about it?" a nod. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Ulrich met them just outside the cafeteria, and the three of them ran to the grate. Yumi was right. Another day, another Xana attack. Another chance to save the world.

And nobody even knew it.

They raced through the sewers, getting to the bridge in a matter of minutes

Odd felt Ulrich's gaze on him, could sense his uncertainty, as if the boy knew that this wasn't a great idea. Almost as if Ulrich knew what the subject of Odd's dreams had been aboutl even though he hadn't said a thing about them. Yumi sensed nothing, and Odd wanted to keep it that way, because frankly, Yumi scared him a little.

So did Aelita, for that. Maybe he was just the timiest bit afraid of girls.

But so was Ulrich, so it might be just a guy thing.

Back to the bridge. It was completely deserted. Not a soul in sight. This was eerie, because usually there was a possesed person/animal/thing coming after them by this point. Now there was just nothing.

Nobody else seemed to have noticed, or if they had, they didn't say anything. So it was on to the rope, then the elevator.

They stopped by to check with Jeremy about what exactly was going on. Before anybody said one word, though, Jeremy was already answering. "I don't know what it's about, but there's a tower activated and Aelita might need some help. Just get it over with."

Next stop, the scanners.

Odd looked at the huge things warily, and hesitated slightly before stepping into one. Suddenly, someone's hand was on his shoulder. He spun around to see Ulrich. "Nothing will hurt you in there, Odd. I promise."

So they all stepped into their scanner.

And got transported into a nightmare.

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	3. Fighting

**I own nothing.**

Odd blinked once at the new landscape before falling. His reflexes, which were greatly enhanced in his cat-like form on Lyoko, made it possible for him to land while standing straight up. Next to him, Ulrich and Yumi materialized and fell as well.

Aelita was waiting for them, smiling to herself at some joke. "Hey. The activated tower is just over here. Only a couple of monsters are there, as far as I can tell."

They all ran off in the direction that Aelita indicated. Odd, normally right up front with Ulrich, lagged behind. His nightmares seemed to be coming alive. They were even in the desert region. Ulrich noticed and kept pace with Odd.

"Listen Odd, if anything seems wrong to you, just yell, okay? We'll get you devirtualized and you won't have to come back until you were completely okay with it." Ulrich had sensed a change in Odd as soon as Jeremy had called them to Lyoko. Usually, Odd loved it on Lyoko, where everything was a competition. Now he was fidgeting.

Ulrich put out his hand and touched Odd on the shoulder, confused and hurt when his friend flinched away. "I'm okay, Ulrich. Really. I'm just a little jumpy."

Ulrich nodded, but still stayed back with his friend. They were almost to the monsters now.

There were two of them. Crabs. Aelita hid, always afraid to hit and be gone forever. Ulrich went straight to the nearest one, Yumi to the farther one.

Which left only Jeremy to see what happened next.

On Lyoko, Xana never took form. He always used monsters and objects, disposable things that could easily remade. But when Xana showed himself that day, Odd knew who it was immediately. And so did Jeremy.

"Run Odd!"

Odd ran away from Xana, his heart thumping around somewhere near his throat. It was going to burst out if he let it...

Jeremy must have shouted something that Odd hadn't heard, because suddenly, Ulrich was there. "Odd, keep running, I'll distract him!"

Odd wanted to tell Ulrich not to bother. To just kill Odd and get him devirtualized, but the words wouldn't come out. He just kept running, wishing that he hadn't skipped so many gym classes.

"No!"

Odd was lifted up into the air by a huge hand. The weirdest thing, the thing that made him stop struggling and just hand in limp disbelief, was that the hand was _cold_. In Lyoko, things had no feeling, no texture, no temperature. But the hand was definetly cold.

The last thing Odd saw before being zapped away with Xana was Ulrich's face. It was filled with a mixture of terror and anger, a combination so intense that Odd wondered why Xana wasn't melting under the glare of it.

Then they were both gone, along with the crabs and every other Xana-made monster. They went Nowhere.

When he got devirtualized, Ulrich hit the wall with his hand, then broke down in a fit of tears that nobody could stop.

**Reviews are pretty.**


	4. Screaming

**I own nothing**

Odd woke up crying. He never, ever cried, especially because of a dream. But that had been one terrible dream. he was so uncomfortable; it felt like his body was on fire. And why was his bed so hard?

Odd's eyes snapped open. He remembered what had happened ― Lyoko and Xana, being kidnapped. So he was still in the virtual world.

Except what he saw was nothing, blackness, he was Nowhere.

He was dying in Nowhere.

Suddenly, the darkness became lighter, and Odd caught a glimpse of ― not a place, exactly. It was numbers, somehow turned solid. He was lying on a platform of 3's, surrounded by bars of 6's, chained down by very cold 8's.

Then a shadow corrupted his vision, a shadow that was inky black and seemed to ooze over him, making him squirm and scream. He wanted to get away from this shadow.

The shadow took a form ― a pulsating orb with a glowing eye. The form that had cause Odd and his friends to risk their lives to save Kadic and the rest of the world. The form that sent out monsters and worst. The thing that had haunted his recent nightmares.

Xana

Xana didn't touch him, he made no move towards Odd, but Odd's limbs were suddenly on fire. His mind seemed detached from the excruciating pain and could only form one real thought, _so you can feel pain when you're in Nowhere._

As suddenly as the pain had started, it stopped, leaving Odd panting and gulping. He looked up at the shadow and could have sworn, even though it had no mouth, that it was smiling. "What-what do you want?" he gasped.

The voice that came out of the Thing was completely devoid of emotion. It was scratchy and tight, the kind of sound that you'd imagine would come out of a medieval phonograph.

"You have been brought here to become a downfall for your 'friends'. You will obey me, and when the time is right, you will kill them."

Odd's eyes widened. "No way! Are you off your meds or something? I would never attack my friends. I'd die first!"

Xana laughed, and Odd wanted nothing more than to put his hands over his ears. The sound was cruel, with a quality to it that made Odd suspect that it wasn't human. "That can be arranged."

Odd gulped, started pulling against the 8's that bound him. His back hit the bars. Before his mind was corrupted by pain, he sent out a wish to Ulrich, _find me!_

Then he was overtaken by darkness.

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	5. Planning

**I own nothing**

Ulrich paced the room. Never before had he felt so helpless. He couldn't do anything, couldn't help Odd. The return to the past hadn't fixed anything.

"What're you doing, Jeremy?" Aelita's voice was coming directly from the computer. She looked as worried as Ulrich felt. The numbers on the computer screen seemed to appear and disappear at the speed of light.

Jeremy's hands were flying. This code wasn't that complex, he had learned it long ago. But it was so long! "I'm trying to access every piece of information on Xana. Even the one's that have been deleted. There were still about fifty characters to go. He really hoped he hadn't messed up. Typos could kill on Lyoko. Literally.

Yumi's voice was high and uneven. "What does Xana want with Odd? He already has Aelita!" This was true. The gang still hadn't found a way to make Aelita solid in the real world.

Jeremy had just typed in the last digit when a large red box popped up with the Xana symbol pulsating on top of it. It read: IN EXCHANGE FOR THE BOY, YOU WILL GRANT ME ACCESS TO THE COMPUTER. IF YOU DENY MY REQUEST, THE BOY WILL PERISH. 12 HOURS.

The twelve hours immediately started counting down, going to 11: 59: 59. It kept going. A time limit. With higher stakes then anybody could have imagined.

Yumi let out a little gasp at the same moment that Aelita shrieked. Jeremy started punching in some computer codes, going faster and faster until his hands were just a blur. Ulrich stood there, watching as the clock counted down, silently ticking to Odd's death.

"I'm going to stop this." Ulrich stood up. The plan had formed in his mind as soon as he had seen the message. "Listen, Einstein—" Jeremy winced, only odd called him that. "Sorry. Jeremy, trace that e-mail, then send me to wherever it came from." Yumi gripped his arm. "Me too."

Jeremy looked at her sadly. "I know you want to go, Yumi. I want to go, too. But think about it. This could all just be a huge, elaborate trap. Once he has us all going after Odd, who's here to make sure the world is okay?"

Yumi opened her mouth to argue, started to get a word out, then realized that it was useless. There was no way around Jeremy's logic. "Fine, but Ulrich, you'd better take care of yourself. I'm counting on you."

There was a silence, each person struggling to get their mind around what had happened, around what they had to do. Contrary to popular belief, they were only human. They were just kids who had been thrown into something that was over their heads. Something that up until now had been almost a game. They had even kept score.

Now the stakes were rising, Odd was going to die in twelve hours. Giving over the power of the SuperComputer was out of the question.

So now they had to risk their lives for their friend. But they were still kids making up everything on the spot. And kids still make mistakes.

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	6. Going

**I own nothing**

Ulrich wanted ― no needed ― to go to Lyoko. He should have helped Odd; he should have been there for him. He had _promised_.

And he couldn't put the girls into this kind of trouble. He was pretty sure that Xana was smart enough to figure out how to really make them die on Lyoko.

Of course he had to wait for Jeremy to write a program to find where Xana was, then he had to wait for Jeremy to write a program to put Ulrich there. Each took about an hour, and by the end of it, Ulrich was about ready to hit something.

They left Jeremy's laptop with Aelita, just in case of an attack, and the boys went to the factory, where they would stay until they found Odd.

Would they miss school? Yeah. Who really cared, though? Odd would be alive. That's all that really mattered. His grade couldn't dip any lower then it already was.

The ride through the sewers was almost complete silence. Ulrich suddenly realized that it was usually Odd who initiated the competitions, sometimes just with a simple, "Race you to the..." God, he missed Odd.

"Get to the scanners." Jeremy said as soon the elevator stopped at "his floor". Ulrich jammed the button again, hearing Jeremy's voice through the crack, "And don't do anything stupid!"

Ulrich got into the scanner, feeling a mixture of nervousness and the raw hatred he'd been feeling since Odd had been taken. He was nervous about Jeremy's program. So often there were bugs in the first one.

He was also scared, for him and for Odd. Once Xana got them both together, what would stop him from killing them? Nothing. Reluctantly, Ulrich allowed the fear to consume him, let it take over the hatred. He had read somewhere (or was it Star Wars?) that fear was the only emotion that let you think clearly. When you were afraid, you were acting purely on instinct.

Ulrich took a deep breath, stepped into the scanner. He heard Jeremy's voice, kind of thin and wobbly. Ulrich suddenly realized how much toll this was taking on his friend.

Now he _really_ hoped that he wouldn't end up dead.

A flash of light later, Ulrich was blinking at Lyoko, then falling. He didn't catch himself, and landed in a heap. There was no way he wouldn't have been surprised by this.

He was looking at a world of numbers. It was definitely a part of Lyoko he had never seen before. The ground, the surroundings, all made up of green digits, yet they were completely solid.

"Where are you Ulrich?" Jeremy's voice seemed to resonate from everywhere, making Ulrich look up subconsciously. "I don't know," Ulrich responded.

A pause, giving Ulrich enough time to bend down. The ground was numbers heaped on top of each other, kind of like stones. He picked one up. It had the texture of a rock. "Bizarre." He murmured.

"I'd just keep moving Ulrich. Odd doesn't have much time." Jeremy's voice wasn't hard ― just the opposite, but Ulrich started anyway. Odd was going to die...

"How much time, Jeremy?" he asked, not wanting to know the answer. He was already running.

Another pause. "Not enough, Ulrich. No where near enough."

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	7. Saving

**I own nothing**

Ulrich ran across the numbers, aware that he could feel the individual texture of every one of them. It was the first time he had ever felt anything on Lyoko. He didn't know where he was running to ― he didn't even know if he was going anywhere, but he was _doing_ something.

He relayed what he was seeing to Jeremy, getting mixed responses in return. His friend obviously was thinking about something else.

Eventually, the landscape started to change. Minute details shifted, and things became bigger or smaller. Soon, he was at the entrance of something that looked something like a cave.

Ulrich instinctively knew that this was Xana's hideout. He went inside, the thought of being stealthy in some way not even occurring to him. Xana always found them anyway.

Something moved just ahead and Ulrich steadied himself, ready to fight ― or run. What scurried around the corner just then was no monster, though. It was Odd.

"Odd!" the word escaped his lips before he remembered that they were in danger, he was so surprised by his friend's appearance. Up and down his arms were cuts, bruises, and burns. They also covered his face, along with a gash that stretched from his temple to his cheekbone (that cut never did completely heal). It made Ulrich wonder vaguely how he could've gotten so hurt in a computer program before he shoved the thought to the back of his mind.

The most obvious change, though, was his clothes. Instead of the purple that usual accompanied his long tail, he was dressed completely in black, looking almost like Yumi. Odd's hair was cropped very close to his head, which made Ulrich appreciate how short he was.

When Odd heard his name, he backed away for a second, then came forward again, cringing. "Ulrich?" his voice was low and hesitant, then became stronger. "Ulrich, get out of here!"

Ulrich moved forward, his hand out, his eyes worried. Then Odd screamed, as if being attacked by an invisible entity. "Odd!" Ulrich sprang forward, grabbing his friend by the arm.

Odd looked up at Ulrich, tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry Ulrich," he whispered, then lifted his arm.

"No," Ulrich backed away, shaking his head. "No, Odd, you can overcome this. I'm here, I'll help you beat him."

Odd's eyes were wide and terrified. "Help me, Ulrich. It's him ―" another scream, louder then the first one, if that was possible. Odd fell to his knees and Ulrich, abandoning all his precautions, ran to him. He knelt by his friend, put his arm around him until the pain stopped. Another flicker crossed Odd's eyes making him gasp, "he's coming! Run!"

Ulrich couldn't ― wouldn't ― run. He had to help his friend. He jerked on Odd's arm until the younger boy stumbled to his feet. Just as he was draping Odd's arm over his head, a shadow passed over the ground of numbers.

"He's here." a robotic, inhuman voice declared, and now it was Ulrich's turn to scream.

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	8. Finding

**I own nothing**

Odd's entire body tensed, from the top of his hair to the tip of his purple, cut-up tail. He looked at Ulrich, pleading with him, "Run! Hurry!" it was obvious that he had no expectations to come out of this ordeal alive.

Xana came closer, and Ulrich swore later that there was a connection between Odd and the beast. Telepathic, maybe. Odd kept on shaking his head, murmuring. Suddenly he cried out, "No!" and wrenched himself away from the connection, severing it completely.

"Odd!" it wasn't Ulrich's voice this time, it was Jeremy's. "I gave you some more arrows― use them. And run!"

Ulrich pulled Odd along with him as he ran over the ground of numbers. Something was wrong with Odd's legs, though, because he kept stumbling and once fell. Xana kept coming closer and closer, bringing with him an army of creatures. There was no way they could fight them all.

"Jeremy, get us out of here!" Ulrich screamed in frustration.

Jeremy's voice came through, cracking and small as if fighting back tears. "I can't. You have to find a way out of the section somehow."

Ulrich cursed under his breath. What use was a computer genius if he couldn't help you when you needed it most? "C'mon, Odd."

Odd was dragging. His body was burning and sore and he was so, so tired. He hadn't slept for over a day now.

They darted between columns of numbers, trying to lose the monsters. They were shooting at them now, and the boys were dismayed to see that the blocks of numbers crumpled under the blows.

Ulrich kept darting between the columns, pulling odd along with him, trying to find a way out. Suddenly, Odd stopped. "Do you see that?" he asked, pointing at the ground.

Ulrich nodded. "A shadow, you mean?"

There was a shadow on the ground. The interesting thing was that in the rest off Nowhere, there was no light, so there could be no shadows. The only light came from the numbers.

The sounds of weapons were coming closer. Ulrich made a split second decision and grabbed his friend by the arm, jumping towards the shadow.

They fell through it.

Ulrich managed to stand up while Odd just crumpled to the ground, his legs refusing to work.

"You ready?" Ulrich asked, pulling out his sword.

Odd pointed his arrows at him, "Ready."

Together, they shouted, "three...two...ONE!"

They both devirtualized.

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	9. Doing

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Ulrich sucked in the air as fast as he could. Devirtualizing had never been that difficult before. Within a minute, though, he was back to normal. Back to thinking about Odd.

Jeremy had just run into the room. "I already called the girls!" he said, addressing Ulrich directly. He went over to the scanner that held Odd, slumped unconscious at the bottom.

Ulrich knelt beside his friend, his hand moving through Odd's singed blond hair, finding that clumps came away in his hand. Jeremy put his fingers to Odd's neck, feeling for a pulse. "Yes...I've got one. It's weak, but he's alive."

Ulrich moved his hands down to his friend's face. Bruises covered it, some swollen, most in varying shades of blues, blacks, and yellows. The long gash was still bleeding, making one half of Odd's face completely red.

Burns, some so severe that they were blisters, covered Odd's upper body. One of his arms was broken, bent at an odd angle.

"Oh Odd!" Tears sprang to Ulrich's eyes. He picked his friend's head up onto his lap, stroking it. He cried, dimly away that Jeremy was crying too.

A hand touched Ulrich's making him jump two feet in the air. "Odd!" he whispered, crying more violently then before.

Odd was crying too. Whether from pain or fear or happiness, Ulrich didn't know. All he knew was that his friend was alive, and that was all that really mattered.

Yumi and Aelita ran in, both pink in the face. Ulrich suspected that they'd ran all the way to the factory. "Is he...?" they both questioned, gesturing to Odd, who lay still once again. Ulrich shook his head no.

Yumi let out a small scream, and Ulrich thought that if Odd hadn't been so hurt, she would have hurled herself ontop of him. Aelita looked at Jeremy. "Time for a return to the past?" she asked softly. He nodded.

Ulrich and Yumi were still with Odd when the return to the past was activated, and the world was engulfed in whiteness.

**Reviews are nice.Happy New Year!**


	10. Promising

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Odd woke up, covered in a cold sweat. More nightmares?

He heard Ulrich stir across the room. They sat in their respective beds in silence until neither of them could take it anymore. "Hey," Ulrich said. "They still bad?"

Odd did a half shrug, half nod thing, struggling to keep the tears from pouring down his face. He couldn't take this anymore. His schoolwork couldn't take this, his emotions couldn't take this, and certainly his body couldn't take this.

Ulrich crossed the room, sitting down behind Odd and putting his hands around the younger boy's chest, feeling his heart which was beating twice the normal rate. "Let's talk, Odd. We haven't talked in forever."

Odd nodded, but it was Ulrich who did most of the talking.

"You know, nobody signed a contract. If you can't do this Xana thing, nobody's going to blame you." Odd made a small noise, interrupting his friend.

"I can't stop, Ulrich." Tears dripped down Odd's cheeks. "This is my life. It's important. It's more important then just me ― just our little group." He looked around wildly, trying to find words to express the depth of his emotions. "It's the world, Ulrich. The whole world."

Ulrich pushed back Odd's hair, which was slick from sweat, "Yeah, Odd, I know. You're just being too hard on yourself. You got real hurt back there buddy."

Odd nodded in understanding, his eyes closing briefly. "Got fixed right back up." he murmered, curling around Ulrich's body.

"Yeah, on the outside. The inside stuff is more important, Odd. Like, how you feel about things effects how well you can do them." Ulrich was getting uncomfortable. He was no doctor. Not even close.

Odd was starting to drift off to sleep. Ulrich could feel his labored breathing get lighter, "I can't lose you, Odd. I love you too much." he looked away for a second, blinking back the tears that threatened to corrupt his vision. "I can't let you get hurt."

A strangled, half-asleep laugh came from Odd, "I'll never get hurt, Ulrich," he muttered.

"I have you."

**Not trying to do slash or anything. Just...I don't know. It's the end, so everyone review.**


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